Resectioning procedures involve excising a portion of an organ, stapling the surrounding sections together to close up the hole created by the excision, and removing the excess tissue resulting from the stapling. Various conventional devices are available for resectioning lesions in tubular organs.
Several known resectioning devices require at least one incision in an area near the portion of the organ to be excised because, for example, the resectioning device may lack steering and/or viewing capabilities. Specifically, devices for performing circular anastomoses of substantially tubular organs have been used in conjunction with open surgery. For example, devices are known for use in joining sections of the colon which have been separated from one another by the surgical removal of a cylindrical section of the colon. The separated ends are first purse stringed to seal the interior of the colon and a part of the device (e.g., the anvil of a stapling apparatus) is placed within one of the purse stringed ends while the rest of the device is advanced through the colon to the other purse stringed end (usually via an additional incision). The two purse stringed ends are then brought together and the anvil is joined to the rest of the device. A circular line of staples joins the two sections of the colon and the tissue radially within this line of staples is cut away and removed to open the lumen of the rejoined colon. Of course, these incisions are painful and may involve a partial or entire loss of mobility while recuperating from the incision, in addition to the pain and inconvenience associated with recovery from the resectioning procedure itself. Furthermore, the time required to recover from such a procedure is often longer than for procedures which do not require incisions.